Spiritual applications for swine flu?

You know you are in dangerous territory when you gather a bunch of student workers together right before they are about to teach Sunday morning Bible study and begin talking about random subjects in the news. Somehow in the midst of the conversation everything becomes an object lesson and has spiritual significance.

Yesterday at my church we had a number of students out sick. Regardless of what they are really sick with, everyone now has swine flu. (Not really but you know how the rumors spread.) My own daughter, who was home sick one week ago with allergies and a sinus infection (and I know because we went to the doctor and they did a flu test that was negative), well, now rumor has it that she had swine flu.

Anyway as we talked “swine flu” and how quickly it has spread in reality and is also the cause of any other ailment our students have right now, we also talked about how great it would be if our testimonies and our faith in Christ spread so quickly. What would our church and our community be like if rumor had it that we were on fire for Jesus and you better watch out or you will catch it too?!

Another interesting piece of information that was shared (not really sure if it is true or not), was that many of the elderly are not getting swine flu. That actually this “swine flu” may be a repeat of a similar strand of influenza many of the elderly had during their younger days. So they have that whole immunity thing working for them—they paid the price early on in life and now are stronger and can fight off the similar virus.

What if we were willing to pay the price early on in life? What if as middle school and high school students we risked more when talking about our faith and our relationship with Christ? What if we went ahead and jumped into the uncomfortable situations where we experienced ridicule or embarrassment or persecution? But then later in life we would be stronger, bolder, and more courageous in sharing our faith.

I’m not sure that any of our swine flu conversations will catch on and really inspire anyone to be bolder in his or her faith or cause someone to be more on fire for Jesus. But I do know that passion and commitment to Christ is contagious. When we share our faith openly with others through our words, our actions, and our attitudes, people take notice. They may wonder what we have that they don’t. They may want to investigate what is different about us. They may want to catch whatever it is that we have that so alters and transforms our life.

This week I’m praying that your church will be protected from swine flu and instead a source for the start of a pandemic for Christ in your community!